Ordinary Americans in Minnesota have shown extraordinary courage in standing up to ICE’s terror campaign, and on Tuesday night, they just delivered another blow: at the ballot box. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard explore the results of an astonishing special election in St. Paul that set all kinds of records for Democrats—and shows that any attempt by Donald Trump to rig the midterms by deploying his goon squads could backfire very badly indeed.

The Davids also chat with veteran election watcher Geoffrey Skelley, who is now chief elections analyst at Decision Desk HQ. Skelley tells us how DDHQ, long a source for results on election night, is expanding its coverage to give better context for all the data it produces. He also shares his thoughts on some high-leverage Senate primaries and explains some of the surprising reasons why House retirements have spiked in recent years.

Donald Trump’s redistricting wars are not over yet—not by a long shot. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard catch listeners up on the latest developments in every state where new maps are still in play, and there are quite a few.

Some of the biggest questions: Will Virginia Democrats push the limits for a “10-1” map? Will infighting among Republicans in Florida doom the GOP’s hopes of a new gerrymander? And will a brand-new ruling out of New York that just struck down a red district withstand further legal scrutiny? We answer all these and more!

Co-host David Beard is joined by Nathaniel Rakich, managing editor of Votebeat, to talk through the big election news of the week. We cover Rep. Mary Peltola’s entry into the Alaska Senate race and what it means for Democrats’ chances of taking the Senate this fall. Then we discuss Rep. Steny Hoyer’s retirement after more than 45 years in Congress and the generational turnover House Democrats are experiencing.

In our Deep Dive, Beard talks to Kansas Representative Sharice Davids and they discuss her consistent overperformances in a highly competitive district. Davids also discusses overcoming the Republican gerrymander that made her seat redder in 2022 and the GOP’s attempts at a new mid-decade gerrymander to make her seat even harder to win.

Not only was there no shortage of election news over the holidays, we've already had our first elections of the new year! On our newest episode of The Downballot podcast, which marks the start of our fifth season, we get you caught up on all the top stories from the past couple of weeks, including Elise Stefanik's shocking bailout, Tim Walz's unexpected departure, the death of a Republican congressman from California, and special election that just barely got away from Democrats in South Carolina.

We are delighted to wrap up the year with our presentation of the Third Annual Downballot Awards! We celebrate both the highlights and the lowlights of a truly wild year.

Who will win the honor for Funniest Cancellation of a Special Election? The Lighting Money on Fire Award? The Worst Understanding of State Laws? But it’s not just razzies: Tune in to learn who won our awards for Special Achievement in Stealth Politics, Generator of the Wildest Freakout, and the top accolade, Best Campaign—which we’ve now split into primary and general election categories!

The most important honor, though, goes to you, our listeners, for your steadfast support all year long. We could not do this without you. We are truly grateful.

Georgia Democrats didn’t just flip a deep-red seat in a special election on Tuesday. They’ve also sent Republicans into a panic—in the Peach State and across the country. On this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard explore Eric Gisler’s massive upset, what it means for next year’s elections in Georgia, and why the GOP may want to slow its roll on mid-decade redistricting.

On that last topic, the Davids also sit down with Richard von Glahn of People Not Politicians Missouri, which just submitted more than 300,000 signatures to put the GOP’s new gerrymander up for a vote next year. Von Glahn gives us the nitty-gritty on how veto referendums work, all the ways Republican officials are trying to thwart the repeal effort, and how organizers are fighting back—in the courts and on the ground.

Tuesday’s special election in Tennessee’s deeply conservative 7th District yielded two things for Republicans: a win, and widespread panic. On The Downballot podcast this week, co-hosts David Nir and David Beard explain why Democrat Aftyn Behn’s 13-point overperformance rightly has the GOP terrified. This was no sleepy, low-turnout affair. Voter participation was at midterm levels, which means that dozens of slightly bluer but still very red Republican seats could be in play next year. Look out!

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The Davids also chat with Lou Jacobson, the new senior author of one of the most seminal resources in the world of election nerdery: the Almanac of American Politics. Jacobson tells us how this massive, 2,000-page tome gets updated every two years, and how he’s bringing the Almanac into the digital era by offering updates on a new Substack site—including profiles of every freshly gerrymandered district in the country.

A federal court issued a shock ruling this week barring Texas from using its brand-new GOP gerrymander, but what does it all mean? We explore every nook and cranny of this stunning development on this week’s episode of The Downballot podcast, including why Republicans walked into a trap they set for themselves and what might happen on appeal.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also chat with Patrick Brown, a veteran campaign operative and partner at Novel Strategies who wants Democratic candidates to rethink how they go about communicating with voters. Advocating for a holistic, “voter-centric” approach, Brown explains why it’s critical for campaigns to understand exactly how their target audience consumes media and engage accordingly. He also emphasizes the importance of “building an interesting place to be” for candidates eager to tap into the world of influencers.

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